Letter to the ABA Journal re Thimerosal and Autism:

Here's a letter I wrote to the ABA Journal:

I am appalled by the credulous and sloppy article in the July 2006 ABA Journal [not online] discussing litigation over the purported link between autism and thimerosal. Reporter Wendy N. Davis is simply incorrect when she writes that "many scientists have come to believe that thimerosal may cause autism" and that "scientists are divided" on the issue. In fact, only a fringe group of junk scientists believe this, and the thesis that thimerosal in vaccines causes autism is directly contrary to reams of data [e.g., here] showing that removing thimerosal from vaccines has no effect on autism rates. Apparently, however, Ms. Davis was too lazy to actually research the issue herself, and instead relied on what she terms "published accounts" of a 2001 study, along with a much-debunked [e.g., here] article in Rolling Stone (of all places) by attorney Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. The ABA Journal can and should do a lot better than this.

I should note that I have no relationship of any sort with any of the players in the thimerosal litigation.

I was especially saddened to see this piece because Mark Hansen, who used to write for the ABA Journal, wrote some pathbreaking pieces debunking junk science and junk scientists such as uber-charlatan Louise Robbins.